Lowe's and America's dark age of Islamophobia

Recently, TLC began running an innocuous reality show called All-American Muslim. It documents the lives of five Muslim families in a Detroit suburb that boasts the highest concentration of Arabs and Muslims in America. The 99 percent of Americans who don't share their faith are invited to explore the possibility that these very misunderstood Americans don't have horns or drink the blood of infant Christians and Jews.

It didn't take long for a conservative group calling itself the Florida Family Association to complain that the TLC series is "propaganda that riskily [sic] hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."

Of course, there's nothing on the show to indicate a subversive religious agenda, other than its blatant attempt to portray Muslims as humans.

Lowe's Home Improvement couldn't be bothered with such nuances. It pulled its ads from the show and issued the wimpiest justification of corporate cowardice ever: "Individuals and groups have strong political and societal views on this topic, and this program became a lightning rod for many of those views."

Ted Lieu, a state senator in California, called Lowe's capitulation to intolerance "un-American" and is considering calling for a boycott of the retailer. Lowe's isn't worried about a boycott from America's Muslims, who number fewer than two million, but a sympathy boycott by fair-minded Americans of all faiths and political persuasions would be a nightmare for the company.

http://articles.philly.com/2011-12-16/news/30524943_1_islamophobia-liberties-and-traditional-values-muslim-brethren